Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN MAY 2019 24 COVER STORY Suncity Group Chairman Alvin Chau サンシティー・グループのアルヴィン・チャウ会長 IAG: Does Australia count as Asia? AL: Yes, and I recently received an email from the Gold Coast City Council about an opportunity there [Ed: The Queensland state government issued a call for tenders in March for a second IR to be developed on the Gold Coast [currently home to Star Entertainment Group’s The Star Gold Coast]. Anywhere in Asia that we’re legally allowed to have a casino, we would be interested. IAG: Let’s talk about Hoiana, the first integrated resort of which Suncity Group will be an owner/operator. How will that look? AL: Hoiana is quite different. For example, Hoiana will use [Hong Kong hotel group] Rosewood for our hotel management. But although we have a casino, it is a resort destination. It’s different to a casino in Macau. I don’t call the rooms above the casino a hotel, I call them “rooms for the players.” It is totally different with check-in and check-out time, the quality of the service, the power of the General Manager. Having high standards is one of the most important things for a hotel brand. IAG: What else can we expect from Hoiana? AL: Our land is 986 hectares, 10 square kilometres, with four kilometres of beach. Phase 1 will use around 30% of our land including a 19-hole golf course, a beautiful clubhouse and then 100 villas. Sonia Cheng, the CEO of Rosewood, told us it is going to be the best in Asia. On top of the casino podium we have two hotels. One is a new brand from Rosewood called KHOS. It’s high- end but targeting people in their 30s, with 300-something rooms. The other hotel we will call Hoiana Tower which is VIP suites, 100-something rooms. There will be 16 restaurants in total to start with including seven in the casino area and nine in the hotel. We also have serviced apartments across the road, 270